CAREER IN FOCUS
Changing courts
A career in prosecutions wasn’t always the plan for Sergeant Mark Stephens but, following a big change in his personal life, he found it was the ideal career path.
“I was a single guy in my late 20s and I had been doing foster caring for a few years when I got a call asking me if I could take on a young boy whose mother had recently passed away,” Sgt Stephens said.
“I had only ever experienced court as a uniform police member before, so being in there, for something as simple as a guardianship hearing, opened my eyes to what it’s like on the other side of proceedings,” he said.
It was through this work that Sgt Stephens ended up becoming the sergeant prosecutor in charge of the Koori Court and later the Children’s Koori Court when it started operating in Melbourne in 2006.
“I took him in and, after about six months, I went through the court process to become his permanent, legal guardian and, despite having the best support from my family, I wanted a role at work that would allow me more stability to be with him more.”
Shortly after this, Sgt Stephens applied for a role in the Melbourne Prosecutions Unit and has been there for the past 20 years.
The Children’s Koori Court was first established in Victoria in 2005 to address the over-representation of young Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system.
This got Sgt Stephens thinking about a move to prosecutions.
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He quickly found his niche in the therapeutic court space, which are courts that focus on alternative ways of processing cases with a focus on rehabilitation and diversion to prevent offending.
All Koori Court sessions are held in a special courtroom that features an oval-shaped table and vibrant Aboriginal artwork, with Elders and Respected Persons sitting on either side of the judge or magistrate across from the young person.
